


care

by spacebubble



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Bickering, Episode Related, Episode: s05e09 The Ascent, Light Angst, M/M, Pre-Slash, Symbolic Playing Card and Pomade Content, Vignette, passive-aggressive indirect outbursts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-02
Updated: 2018-04-02
Packaged: 2019-04-17 05:34:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14181969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spacebubble/pseuds/spacebubble
Summary: Quark's tired of seeing Odo's excessively slicked-back hair every day on the trip to Inferna Prime, so he comes clean about it.





	care

**Author's Note:**

> Short bonus scene related to [flights and visions](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13872129) (which, fair warning, is a much more explicit fic), but can be read separately. :3

"Quark?"

Startled, Quark dropped the cards he was holding, then sighed as he realized they had scattered all over the ground again. 

"What are you doing?" Odo asked, walking back into the cockpit.

Quark glared back up at him from the floor. "I _was_ picking up the cards I dropped on the floor."

"Ah. I had assumed it was merely another failed attempt at your game."

Well, he certainly wasn't about to pick up each card again, not with Odo scrutinizing him.

Quark stood back up.

"You put too much pomade in your hair again."

Odo looked unconcerned. "No, I didn't."

"I can _see_ it, Odo. Glistening on your hair like some terrible shiny helmet." Quark whipped out one of his elaborately patterned handkerchiefs from an inner pocket. "C'mere."

He held the handkerchief up, and Odo eyed him skeptically.

"Why?"

"So I can help you wipe off the excess, duh." When Odo still didn't seem convinced, Quark added, "Since I have to stare at your ugly hair every day we're stuck on this stupid runabout."

"Ah." Odo tilted his head. It was a very endearingly birdlike gesture, and Quark hated it. "Well, since you _requested_ so politely -"

"Please, Odo," Quark said in a dry, level monotone. "Please let me help you look presentable."

"Presentable?" Odo scoffed. "To whom? You?"

Quark glared at him. "Yes! Me! Isn't that enough? Can't I be enough?"

His outburst seemed to take Odo aback. "Quark, I -"

"If your beloved Major brought it up, you'd wipe it off before she could even finish her sentence, wouldn't you?"

Odo stepped closer, head no longer tilted. He sounded eerily calm. "I don't see what Kira has to do with anything."

"Of course you don't." Quark scowled. "Forget it, then."

Instead of replying, Odo stepped even closer, until he was right in front of him. 

Quark blinked. 

Grunting, Odo bowed his head, so that Quark could reach it more easily. Or kiss him. His face was close enough for both.

"Oh." Quark blinked again, suddenly at a loss for words. "Uh."

With a somewhat more exasperated grunt, Odo gently seized the wrist of the hand holding the handkerchief. He brought Quark's hand close to his face, then his hair, before releasing it. 

"Go on, Quark."

And Odo kept his head obediently bowed, patiently letting Quark wipe away the excess pomade from his hair. 

For a moment, there was complete silence between them. All Quark could hear was the runabout, and the handkerchief, and Odo's steady breathing.

He wasn't sure, but it seemed like Odo's habitual stiffness had relaxed somewhat.

After what seemed like an eternity and a very short while at the same time, he stopped.

Odo raised his head back up, holding Quark's gaze.

Without looking away, Odo reached up to touch his own hair, lightly patting it to feel the difference.

He grunted. It almost sounded appreciative.

Quark stared back up at him in silence, waiting for the other shoe to drop, or a sarcastic laugh, or _something_.

But Odo simply turned around and walked away.

"Hey," Quark said faintly, then raised his voice. "Odo? Where are you going?"

"To get some food from the replicator," Odo called back over his shoulder. "I'm hungry."

Quark sat heavily back down onto the seat, then remembered the cards on the floor.

Sighing, he leant down to pick them back up again.


End file.
